Breaking Growth Barriers

Reaching more people often means changing how we do things, and that’s not always easy. John Jackson, pastor of Carson Valley Christian Center in Minden, Nev., offers the PDF Breaking Growth Barriers, which gives concepts and ideas to help churches break some of the typical growth barriers. Most of the document focuses on churches with under 200 people (which account for 85% of churches), but it also covers the 200-400, 400-700 and 700-1500 barriers.

4 Responses to “Breaking Growth Barriers”

Aggressive and successful outreach does not necessarily mean that individual churches will become large. In fact, the argument can be made that in the New Testament era, the opposite was true. Multitudes were reached but individual churches, meeting in houses, remained small.
What if the barriers to growth we often regard as hindrances are actually God-ordained? What if God’s desire is that individual churches remain small but the number of congregations be multiplied so as to saturate cities with gatherings of believers?
I would submit that the depth of Christian community which is foundational to effective outreach (John 17:21-23) is much more difficult to develop when individual churches become large rather than remaining small but multiplying themselves throughout a community.